Saturday was frustrating for Franco Colapintowho could barely complete 14 laps in the second test of the season of the Formula 2 which was held on the Jeddah street circuit, in Saudi Arabia. The Argentine driver spun when he was running 11th and had to abandon the competition, which Brazilian Enzo Fittipaldi ended up winning.
With the aim of improving the result he had obtained on Friday in the sprint race (he had finished 11th), Colapinto started a race from 12th place in which the first starting place belonged to the Indian Kush Mainiwho inherited that privilege because the owner of the pole positionthe British Oliver Bearman, did not participate in the competition because he was called up by the Ferrari team to replace the Spanish Carlos Sainz in the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The start of the race gave a sign of how difficult the day would be for the young man born 20 years ago in Pilar and representative of the MP Motorsport team. At the start, the Spanish Josep María Martí (Campos Racing) He spun at the exit of turn 2 and collided with Colapinto and with the Estonian Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight). The incident forced the safety car to enter and the competition was neutralized.
Although he was able to continue in the race, The Argentine suffered a break in the front wing of his vehicle. Martí, the Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) and the Czech Roman Stanek (Trident) had less luck, who had to abandon the test.
When the safety car abandoned the fast urban layout of Jeddah (it is the fastest street circuit of all those included in the Formula 1 and Formula 2 calendars), the Argentine managed to maintain an acceptable performance, which allowed him to stay in the fight to access the positions that award points.
But at the close of the 14th lap, when he was in 11th place, behind Barbadian Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport) and ahead of Frenchman Victor Martins (ART Grand Prinx), Colapinto grazed the wall in the last corner of the track with his left rear tire. That caused damage to his suspension that led him to spin in turn 1. His car stopped there and his hopes of scoring points remained there.
Without the Williams Academy driver in the fight (he was seen crying uncontrollably after his abandonment), full speed returned to the track on the 18th lap with the Ecuadorian Juan Manuel Correa (Dams Lucas Oil) on the tip and with Enzo Fittipaldi in fourth place. However, in just three laps the Brazilian from the Van Amersfoort team jumped to the top: first he left behind the British Taylor Barnard (PHM AIX Racing) and then, in a brilliant maneuver, he overtook the Belgian Amaury Cordeel (Hitech Pulse-Eight) and Correa .
Since then, Fittipaldi never looked back and built a comfortable lead which allowed him to celebrate his first victory in the category in a main event (he had won the sprint at Spa-Francorchamps in 2023). The winner was escorted by Kush Maini and the Norwegian Dennis Hauger, Colapinto’s teammate in MP Motorsport.
Zane Maloney finished seventh and thus remains the leader of the championship with 47 points. With his victory on Saturday, Fittipaldi jumped to second place with 32 and further behind are Hauger (31) and Aron (28). Colapinto could not add even one unit this weekendhe was left with 8 and is 12th in the contest.
The next Formula 2 test will be run in two weeks at the Melbourne circuit (Australia): qualifying will take place on Friday the 22nd, the sprint race will be run on Saturday the 23rd and the main test on Sunday the 24th (the schedules are still were not confirmed).